Recently, researchers have noticed a recent shift in how children spend their time. Kids are now choosing to stay indoors rather than going outside, and alongside technology, the lack of child-friendly infrastructure can be blamed.  

Many cities focus on building big highways, to make transport by car accessible. This leaves the city with underdeveloped streets that have small bike lanes and barely any sidewalks, denying accessibility to pedestrians. 

It makes people more reliant on cars or other forms of transportation that aren’t walking, without one it’s almost impossible to get around.  

Places that most kids would go to like parks, pools, and community centers like the YMCA are unreachable by foot now. Unless a person’s neighborhood has money they can shell out to make a park within walking distance, most kids only get to play there once a week, and the rest of their time is usually spent inside. 

“Where I live there are so many roads, a lot of them lack sidewalks or even any space to walk to the point where, if you don’t have a car, you just aren’t able to get that way,” said sophomore Samantha Reed. 

And even when changes are made for those who want to go outside, they often are not cared about. “There are some sidewalks near me where the pavement is entirely ruined, all rocky and uneven, and nothings happened about it,” said Reed. 

This is a problem most neighborhoods have and while these issues may be difficult to fix, the benefits from them could be significant. One smooth sidewalk that kids can ride their bikes on can convince them to spend more time outside and spending time outside is extremely important for growing children. 

A study posted by the National Library of Medicine titled, “Paving the Way for Outdoor Play: Examining Socio-environmental Barriers to Community-Based Outdoor Play” wrote, “Outdoor environments that offer diverse opportunities for unstructured play can help stimulate children’s creativity and problem solving abilities, improve learning outcomes, and support healthy physical, social, and emotional development.” 

Going outside is a vital part of growing up for children and if they people want them to go out they need to listen to what could be changed. When asked what could change Reed responded with, “A bike lane would be great…and just better sidewalks overall.”